James Maddison

[daryl hannah]

Then transfermarkt clearly didn't watch any Villa games.

As per many previous posts in this thread from the likes of @Luka Van der Bale and me, Villa played a 4-1-4-1 for the second half of the season, with Jedinak or Whelan as the DM, and Grealish and Hourihane as the CMs.

As Grealish is head and shoulders Villa's most talented player, their attacks flowed through him. But he was a creative CM, not the 10 that we know from his younger days.

Grealish can play as a 10, and will probably be the Eriksen understudy for us. But he proved last season he can play deeper, and I suspect Poch has plans to try to develop him into an English Dembele, as he once nearly tried with a player with a similar skillset in Ross Barkley.

That's interesting. Thank you.

In which case I don't fully understand whether we are buying him

a) to replace dembele
b) to understudy eriksen
c) because he's cheap and villa need funds pronto

 

[Deleted member 27995]

That's interesting. Thank you.

In which case I don't fully understand whether we are buying him

a) to replace dembele
b) to understudy eriksen
c) because he's cheap and villa need funds pronto

Probably because he is young, English, has talent, his team are up shit creak without a paddle, and maybe to annoy/confuse your thoughts on a message board. Pick a few.

Seems like player Poch would appreciate and fits the mould in which Spurs purchase players.

 

[yanno]

That's interesting. Thank you.

In which case I don't fully understand whether we are buying him

a) to replace dembele
b) to understudy eriksen
c) because he's cheap and villa need funds pronto

Good questions. I suspect a bit of all three.

If Fulham had been promoted, I'm sure we'd have tried bigtime to sign Sessegnon, but now I doubt he's either available or wants to miss Fulham's first season back in the PL.

However Villa losing, and their subsequent financial meltdown, meant they needed to sell. Grealish is their best player and biggest asset, and has the same agent as Gareth Bale, with whom we have very good relations.

Watching Grealish last season in a very physical league, he's grown up a lot as a player and has the ability to receive the ball in tight situations and look to start an attack, either with a quick shimmy to create space or a quick pass.

With Josh at Villa, I'm sure our scouts will have been watching Jack G week in, week out.

When he unexpectedly became available, I suspect we see him primarily as the Eriksen understudy. We all know that - fantastic player that he is - CE was forced to play too many games last season as we had no other top class playmaker in the squad given Poch doesn't seem to trust Lamela centrally.

But I also think Poch sees Grealish as an "English Dembele" project, who's proven he can play deeper in the Championship and has excellent technique, and will seek to develop him in that role as he allegedly wanted to do with Ross Barkley.

I wrote about Grealish at length too here:

http://www.spurscommunity.co.uk/index.php?threads/jack-grealish.132973/page-98#post-5919056

 

[Luka Van der Bale]

That's interesting. Thank you.

In which case I don't fully understand whether we are buying him

a) to replace dembele
b) to understudy eriksen
c) because he's cheap and villa need funds pronto

A lot of the evidence points towards us moving to a 4-3-3 or 3-5-2 next season, with Alli and Eriksen operating ahead of a single deeper midfielder. Grealish is the ideal backup in this case.

 

[mill]

Then transfermarkt clearly didn't watch any Villa games.

As per many previous posts in the Grealish thread from the likes of @Luka Van der Bale and me, Villa played a 4-1-4-1 for the second half of the season, with Jedinak or Whelan as the DM, and Grealish and Hourihane as the CMs.

As Grealish is head and shoulders Villa's most talented player, their attacks flowed through him. But he was a creative CM, not the 10 that we know from his younger days.

Grealish can play as a 10, and will probably be the Eriksen understudy for us. But he proved last season he can play deeper, and I suspect Poch has plans to try to develop him into an English Dembele, as he once nearly tried with a player with a similar skillset in Ross Barkley.

A cm’s role in a 4141 is quite a lot different to being in a 2 in a 4231, more freedom and less defensive responsibility

 

[Hakkz]

A cm’s role in a 4141 is quite a lot different to being in a 2 in a 4231, more freedom and less defensive responsibility

And who has said we will be playing 4231 next season?

 

[geordiespur]

My assistant is a Norwich season ticket holder and based on her interactions with him, I’m not fussed on missing out

 

[mill]

And who has said we will be playing 4231 next season?

We may not but you can’t say for any certainty that we won’t considering what we’ played since poch has been here

 

[razzmaster]

My assistant is a Norwich season ticket holder and based on her interactions with him, I’m not fussed on missing out

Rightly or wrongly I have made 4 assumptions from your statement.

1. She knows nothing about football
2. You are shagging your assistant
3. She has shagged James Maddison
4. She is your sister

Apologies if I have misjudged the situation

 

[yanno]

A cm’s role in a 4141 is quite a lot different to being in a 2 in a 4231, more freedom and less defensive responsibility

Agreed. But playing in Bruce's stifling system, Grealish did have some defensive responsiblities.

But the bigger point for me is that Grealish was regularly showing for the ball and receiving it in deep, very tight, congested, situations in a very physical league. And he was routinely keeping possession, creating a yard of space, and looking to play the ball forward.

These are skills we need in our central midfield with Dembele probably leaving, and skills that I believe Poch can help develop in a team first system.

I don't want to overdo the comparison, but Luka Modric has talked about how playing in lower league Croatian football as a kid, where people were trying to take lumps out of him, taught him how to create that small window of time to outfox your opponent, avoid getting kicked, and initiate an attack.

I don't believe it's a sure thing that Grealish will be a success at Spurs. He's been a lad off the pitch in the past, and Champions League is clearly a huge step from the Championship.

But Levy will take full advantage of Villa's financial position, so this will not be a £40-50m transfer. And if Grealish thrives playing alongside better quality players, then there's a good chance he'll join our contingent of England international players.

I note this is the Maddison thread. One of the reasons I'd take Grealish over Maddison is that he's only a year older (22 against 21), but has played a lot more competitive football and experienced many more of the highs & lows of football. I also think his potential ceiling is higher, although I accept that's an opinion only.

 

[sausage]

Has he not now signed for Leicester? /CloseThead?

 

[George94]

Has he not now signed for Leicester? /CloseThead?

May as well leave it open for when we're linked to him next season, but told he'll cost us £70m..

 

[George94]

#CloseThread

 

[TheAmerican]

#CloseThread

"Summer signing no. 3!"

must be nice

 

[Ron Burgundy]

That's a really, really good buy by them - they're a very well run team IMO

If they can get him now, how the hell can we not get Grealish from a club that's on the verge of folding?!

 

[dtxspurs]

That's a really, really good buy by them - they're a very well run team IMO

If they can get him now, how the hell can we not get Grealish from a club that's on the verge of folding?!

Cause we low balled the hell out of them and are trying to force their hand.

 

[Spursmad321]

That's a really, really good buy by them - they're a very well run team IMO

If they can get him now, how the hell can we not get Grealish from a club that's on the verge of folding?!

Because when we make enquiry about a player we get quoted stupid prices, while teams like Leicester are quoted realistic prices. In other words teams try to rip us off because of who we are!

 

[JamieSpursCommunityUser]

That's a really, really good buy by them - they're a very well run team IMO

If they can get him now, how the hell can we not get Grealish from a club that's on the verge of folding?!

Because when we make enquiry about a player we get quoted stupid prices, while teams like Leicester are quoted realistic prices. In other words teams try to rip us off because of who we are!

Also because Norwich have financial problems of their own.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42181728

 

[SpartanSpur]

Good signing - hoping he does well for England's sake. Good price too. If he bangs 15 goals in the PL he'll be worth 4 times that fee this time next season.

Maybe our scouts are right and Grealish is more talented, but I'm always gonna sway towards the guy that can bang 20-30 yarders with both feet on top of other skills.

 

[King of Otters]

Be interesting to see how he gets on at Leicester. Not convinced he's our level so not really fussed about missing out on him.